Peter Leven given permission to speak to St Johnstone as Aberdeen boss issues update
Aberdeen coach Peter Leven has been given permission by the club to speak to St Johnstone amid links to their vacant manager's position.
The Scot helped steer the Dons away from relegation play-off drama last season, and remained a part of the club's set up when new manager Jimmy Thelin arrived at Pittodrie.
However, after the sacking of Craig Levein, the Perth Saints have shown a keen interest in bringing Leven to McDiarmid Park, and Thelin issued an update on the situation ahead of his side's trip to Dundee.
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Speaking to the media, he said: "Peter Leven was given permission to talk to St Johnstone. He’s a good coach and it’s good that our good staff have eyes on them and then it’s up to him of course.
"So far, so good, he is focusing here and preparing for the game tomorrow. That’s all I can say about that.
"Always when you lose players and staff you are going to miss them but we have to find solutions for the future. When good people do good things, they get eyes on them.
"In one way we want them to stay here but it’s his decision is also good that he gets this recognition from other clubs."
Thelin goes up against a former Dons assistant coach on Saturday in the form of Tony Docherty, and he is well aware of the threats the Dark Blues pose to his 11-game winning run.
Dundee remain the last side to beat Aberdeen in the Premiership back in March in what was Leven's first game in interim charge since replacing Neil Warnock before going on to steer the side to safety.
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Thelin added: "They have a good coach in Tony. They are a good competitive team, how they are strong in transitions and how they are strong in the second ball and attack from there.
"It’s a team that we have to be really consistent with how we defend and stay compact and take the challenges from there and also trust in our own processes and our game identity and what we want to achieve.
"It’s going to be a tough challenge and we need to be really connected and competitive every minute of the game because they keep going and going.
"We need to stay with them and use our supporters, there is a lot of supporters travelling down and try to create this energy with them tomorrow and take the challenge from there.
"They have qualities and they have a clear identity. You can see when they play that they really believe in what they’re doing. They have a lot of energy when they play.
"We have to stay really consistent in the game and use this energy that we create with our supporters and try to bring everything together tomorrow and try to take the points."
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Thelin issued a squad update ahead of the trip down the A90, and while keeping his cards close to his chest regarding Duk's long-awaited first team return, he was confident his team were in good health ahead of Saturday's outing.
"For team news, I think it’s quite good. We have some that we’re going to check tomorrow, we’re going to travel with 21 players so let's see."